1 of 2 The exodus story has been manipulated just like the history of our present age. The followers of Set (Seth) followed the left hand path. Set was the god of the desert and chaos and took over egypt for a few hundred years before being expelled.
Read Manetho's writings from the 3rd century BCE. Read Tacitus from the 1st century BCE. The closer you get to the event the less distorted it is likely to be.
Manetho tells that when the Egyptians took measures to expel an unclean people, the Jews organize themselves around a priest whose name later turns out to be Moses. They start a regime of terror in which the Egyptian population becomes the victim of brutal violence. Indeed, these people display large-scale sacrilegious behavior by killing, roasting, and eating the Egyptian gods-that is, the sacred animals. Finally the Pharaoh succeeds in expelling them, whereupon they found their own rogue state in and around Jerusalem where they build their temple.
"Tutimaeus [0]. In his reign, for what cause I know not, a blast of God smote us; and unexpectedly, from the regions of the East, invaders of obscure race marched in confidence of victory against our land. By main force they easily overpowered the rulers of the land, they then burned our cities ruthlessly, razed to the ground the temples of the gods, and treated all the natives with a cruel hostility, massacring some and leading into slavery the wives and children of others. Finally, they appointed as king one of their number whose name was Salitis. He had his seat at Memphis, levying tribute from Upper and Lower Egypt, and leaving garrisons behind in the most advantageous positions." -Manetho